ANGLO IRISH Bank and Seán Quinn exchanged harsh criticisms yesterday ahead of a High Court decision today on whether to restrain Mr Quinn and certain family members from alleged asset-stripping in their overseas property group.

Mr Quinn claimed Anglo was pursuing a vendetta against him and his children and ignoring its obligations to the State by agreeing “the worst possible deal” on the restructuring of his group.

He claimed the Minister for Finance was misled when he said last April that Quinn Group had been relieved of almost half of its debt in the restructuring.

The bank denied it had misled Mr Noonan, saying the Quinn Group’s troubles stem from Mr Quinn’s “reckless gambling” on Anglo’s share price “of a scale unprecedented in this country”.

Mr Quinn claimed thousands of jobs were at risk as a result of the bank’s restructuring of the group. Anglo replied by saying his statement was “designed to destabilise the workforce”.

The High Court will decide on two matters – whether to grant Anglo an injunction stopping Mr Quinn and members of his family from alleged asset-stripping their foreign property firms, and where the trial of the action should be heard.

Mr Justice Frank Clarke will make his ruling in the complex legal action today ahead of a Cyprus court considering fresh allegations by Anglo against the family in a hearing there on Thursday.

Anglo and the family are battling over control of the Quinns’ €500 million international property empire.

Anglo wants the case heard in Ireland, while the family want the action heard in Cyprus.

The Nicosia District Court postponed the case until Thursday.

The bank has claimed the family was involved in a “sinister conspiracy” to put assets in Ukraine, Russia, Sweden, India and Cyprus beyond the reach of Anglo, which is owed €2.9 billion.

Speaking outside the Nicosia court, Anglo’s head of corporate projects Richard Woodhouse said the bank was pleased the judge will consider matters on Thursday.

“Our continuing concern in relation to the dissipation of assets may finally be addressed,” he said.

The judge in Cyprus, Antonis Liatsos, ruled the issue of an affidavit sworn by Mr Woodhouse would be dealt with on Thursday.

Objections to the affidavit were made briefly by counsel for the Quinns, Andreas Sofocleus Co, while lawyers from the firm of Chyrsses Demetriades, for Anglo, pressed for the affidavit, an expanded version of a document published during the summer, to be opened.

Counsel for the Quinns twice objected to the document’s admission. They claimed incorrect stamps had been affixed to it by the Cypriot embassy in Dublin. Anglo claims the Quinns are seeking to delay the case to put assets beyond its reach.

The bank said yesterday that debts of €1.28 billion to banks and bondholders of the Quinn Group were reduced to €682 million in the restructuring last April, with the remaining €588 million being payable “at shareholder level”.

The aim of the restructuring, in which the bank and the other lenders took ownership of the group from the family, was to reduce the group’s debts to a “sustainable level”, Anglo said.

The family claims the restructuring raises the group’s interest bill by more than 300 per cent to €100 million a year. Anglo said the cost of the loans rose due to “the altered risk profile” and “changed market conditions”.

Mr Quinn said Anglo’s actions represented “the worst possible ‘deal’ that could have been negotiated on behalf of the Irish taxpayer, the Quinn Group and its employees”.

He claimed his 38 years of “hard work” to build up the group had been “destroyed by Anglo in less than five months”.

“It is absolutely apparent that Anglo’s priority is to pursue a vendetta against me and my children – while totally ignoring its obligations to the Irish taxpayer, the group and its employees,” he said.